Frankly, we knew about as much about these guys as you do right now. But after we got done with interviewing them, we realized why ISR and Kontaminated made sure they were on the bill. Read to be intrigued…
Who is Ontal?
Ontal consists of Darko Kolar and myself, Boris Brenecki. We are both from Subotica, a city in the north of Serbia. I came to New York City one year ago and I plan to stay here. Our music has never been influenced by our location. We draw our influences from many different eras and different countries.
What does Ontal mean?
When we started making music together in 2011, we thought a lot about what our name should be. We wanted the name to convey a certain message about our project. We came across the word “ontal”. It’s a word that can only be found in the dictionary of the old English language. It means “real; comprising reality as opposed to mere phenomena”. It is a perfect name because we wanted to create original sounding music with elements of the earliest forms of the genres that we perform. Also, one of the concepts which we adopted as Ontal and which we want this name to convey is “musique concrete,” a form of earliest electronic music made by manipulating various recordings.
Where does your sound come from?
The shaping of the sound of Ontal happened in the very beginning of this project. We used to meet at Darko’s apartment in Novi Sad to try out different ideas and eventually made the first Ontal tracks. The workplace was perfect for us because Darko’s apartment was located in a building where most residents were elderly half-deaf or completely deaf persons.
Why do you make music?
We are trying to help our listeners get rid of their negative energy by dancing to mechanical and dynamic rhythms.
What’s been your favorite set to date?
Playing live last year in a secret Paris warehouse to a few thousand people who knew what they came for. The sound, blood-red lights and the energetic crowd made us change our mind and improvise by speeding up the tempo to 200 BPM during the last ten minutes of our live act.
What specifically are you planning to give to the audience at Hard Electronic?
Hard-hitting distorted goodness.
What is something you really want to tell the public that we might not have asked about?
Hear and enjoy as much different music as you can. Diversity of sound is the key to better understanding and enjoyment of music. See you all on Friday!
https://soundcloud.com/ontal
https://www.facebook.com/ontalmusic/
https://twitter.com/Ontal1
https://www.discogs.com/artist/3248292-Ontal
